Amputated Dreams: Disability Kills Youth Aspirations in Gaza

by Rachel
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Gaza – “My legs have gone to paradise,” these are the words that the family of the 5-year-old girl, Mariam Farajallah, instills in her young heart after losing her leg due to an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of Gaza Strip.

While sitting in a wheelchair at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, Mariam told Al Jazeera that her dream is to become a doctor and treat patients.

Al Jazeera camera toured the corridors of this hospital, which is filled with tragic scenes of children, teenagers, and young people whose limbs were amputated due to Israeli airstrikes that targeted them in their homes, streets, and roads.

With words filled with pain, the wounded talked about the impact of disability on their lives, dreams, and aspirations for the future. The 10-year-old Yazan Assouda dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, while the thirty-year-old Fuad Al-Khour was the sole provider for three sisters with special needs and a sick mother.

Mohammed Abu Makhimer (29 years old) lost his leg in an Israeli airstrike, and 13 members of his family perished, leaving only his father and one of his brothers. His hobby of driving cars and playing football was assassinated.

The Israeli war since it erupted on the seventh of October last year claimed the lives of 27,708 Palestinians and injured 67,147 others, including a significant number who had limbs amputated, turning them into disabled individuals, as documented by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

According to the records of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 70% of the martyrs and wounded are children and women.

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